Author of the Zooid Mission

I am a woman born on the cusp of two epochs. I have my initial moorings in traditional Christian American values, firmly implanted there by my parents and reinforced by my society, but I was also spawned into the Age of Aquarius, an age of liberation and revelation of cosmic proportions. The process of integrating these two is reflected in this novel, my life’s work. In the 60s, as a flower child, I was concerned about social issues. In 1968, I began the study of the cosmology and philosophy of the Urantia Papers.  Then, with an intellectual appreciation for who I am, where I came from, and where I was headed, I faced my future with a focus on how we could help make life more meaningful for each other. 

Working in the fields of law and the judiciary, I saw the dysfunction that comes from a sense of entitlement. I watched what happens to people who alienate themselves from much of what is true, beautiful and good in order to “get what I deserve” or assure "they got what they had coming.” I have seen people victimized due to their inability to live within the framework of these distorted values, and I have known people to die from the oppression, from dis-ease, and from sublimating their true selves to the mentality of the “survival of the fittest” or the dominance of “might makes right.” These travesties to the human spirit impelled me to try to create a visionary yet plausible prototype for a future society.

“The Zooid Mission” is a work of speculative fiction that asks: What if a civilization could be created by men and women whose laws are based not on money, property and prestige but on cosmic law, universal law, divine law?  What if our social values were motivated by altruism, and our modus operandi were based on cooperation instead of competition, on the Golden Rule instead of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”  What if our leaders broadcast to us not from a physical address but from intelligent life in the greater universe? What kind of world would it be?  Is such a thing possible?  What would its effect on us be?

 In order to create a new future, one needs to have an idea of what that new future would look like.  If you can “envision” it, you can “create” it.  So, we need to change our way of thinking; we need to turn ourselves inside out or turn on the switch, so that we can begin to live creative lives of living love and service, knowing that others are doing the same for us.  As Golden Rulers we need to know the difference between self-love and egotism so we can see that caring is often the sunny side of control.  We need to learn to understand one another so that we can learn to appropriately love one another, not merely give in to whims or demands in order that our needs get met in return.  We need to recognize what motivates a person, what inspires, what is intended, in order to know whether the source of the attitude is self-interest or altruism and how does that affect our society, our culture, our greater good? 

Integrating the human and the divine aspects of our personality is the challenge for this new age and the future of our world.  We can value the human condition, respecting the underlying animal nature, even as we allow for and depend upon the strength and insights of our indwelling, divine nature.  In this way, we can live inspired lives, finding joy and satisfaction in ourselves and in each other, on earth as it is in heaven, happily ever after. 

Gerdean@cableone.net